


Harry Potter vs. Stairway to Heaven

by moondansr



Series: Fandom Versus Music [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Can't ever resist Harry/Severus, Happy Ending, Harry married Ginny, Harry/Snape coming soon, M/M, Marraige in trouble, Snape Lives, Snape pretending to be dead, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-01-24 07:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1596605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moondansr/pseuds/moondansr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is part of a new series I've decided to do where I mix the Harry Potter universe with a song and write what comes out.  If you want to suggest a song for the next one leave the song in your comment.</p><p>What happens when I write a Harry Potter fanfic while listening to Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.  Well, um, this...</p><p>Rating may change, relationships may develop other that the primary M/M one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Stair

"There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold  
And she's buying the stairway to heaven  
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed  
With a word she can get what she came for..."

*

Ginny Potter stood in the alley looking to the right and then the left to make sure no one was there. The last thing she needed was for someone to report her latest movements to Harry. Things were already rocky. He couldn't seem to stop looking for a dead man. She couldn't seem to stop spending his fortune.

The worst part of it was that she knew what she was doing was wrong. She oughtn't be in that alley looking for a secret shop, having bought yet another obscure impossible thing. She didn't see anyone around and taking a deep breath she turned, flute music taunted her right on the edge of her hearing, with soft, lilting dark music. A gentle breeze rustled past her ear and she turned, once, twice, three times. In front of her was a tree with a door in it. Reaching out Ginny grasped the gold doorknob and turned it. The door creaked open and her senses filled with colors, scents and sound. Then she saw before her a stairway of gold, glittering, beckoning.

Had the money been worth it? Was this really the stairway to Heaven? Ginny took a deep breath and settled her right foot on the first stair.

*

Harry felt something inside of him change. It was like a jolt and then the world tilted just a bit. He plummeted to the ground, tumbling off of his broom. With a thump and a crack he landed roughly in a pile of firewood. His breath was gone in that instant or he might have shouted out something terribly obscene. At first he didn't really feel any pain. It must have been the shock. Then his broom landed on top of him.

Moaning, Harry rolled to his side and tried to get up. Pain shot through his back and blurred his vision. He stopped trying and considered his next move much more carefully. He was pretty sure he'd almost passed out. Considering the pain he was probably hurt pretty badly. Ah yes, magic, he should use magic to send a message to... who? Hermione or Ron? He supposed he could send it to Ginny but she might not come. Things weren't good between them at all and that had been changing his friendship with Ron. Hermione, he decided and promptly passed out.

*

Severus paused at the sound of someone moaning from his wood pile and turned to stare at it. He'd been living in relative peace for nearly four years and he supposed it was too much to ask for that to continue. The cottage he'd built deep in the Forbidden Forest was well warded and the land around it protected from all manner of things. He'd even negotiated for the land with his many neighbors, centaurs, and monsters alike. The fact remained that someone moaning from his wood pile was not good news.

Using magic out here caused something of a stir, so he tried to curtail his use outside of the cottage, which meant that he actually fetched a ladder and climbed it to see the body sprawled on top of the wood. Black tousled hair, some model of broom Severus had never seen before, lightning bolt scar on head. Fan-bloody-tastic, it was Harry Potter. With a deep, heartfelt curse, Severus began looking him over. Unfortunately, it didn't take very long to determine that he couldn't just move him to a populated area and leave him. Severus gave in and used some magic, levitating Harry carefully to his cottage and then over to his bed.

There was only one bed in the cottage, only one bedroom actually. He never needed more than that being only one person. Severus went to his potions cabinet and took out several potions he knew Harry needed. It would be better if he saw a Healer but there was no way to summon one out to the cottage which until Harry had landed Severus had never thought of as an issue.

Honestly, there was no logical reason for the boy to even be alive. He'd been slated to die when he killed Voldemort and won the war. The emotions Severus had been holding in check bubbled up then. He knew the war was won, because the tattoo had gone dull and faded, the ink flaking off slowly over the course of years leaving nothing but a dark smudge on his arm. Severus had assumed that Harry was dead, and that the rest of them, the survivors, were rebuilding without him. Yet, here was Harry, alive. At least for the moment he was alive.

Severus took the potions to the boy and gave them to him, making sure he swallowed each one before moving on to the next. Somehow Harry had killed the Dark Lord and lived through it. Severus had no idea how. The relief he felt knowing that was immense. On the other hand he couldn't think of anyone he less wanted to find him. The two of them had a history and at this point he had no idea what Harry thought of him. It couldn't be good, could it? He checked the boy over again. That was all he could do and for the moment Harry seemed to be stable. It was better not to move him.

The question of what Harry was doing riding his broom over the Forbidden Forest and why he'd fallen from it remained. Severus wasn't sure he would ever get those answers. As soon as Harry was stable he hoped he could get him well away from the cottage and leave him to people who weren't considered dead by the majority of the world. It would be best if Harry never knew he'd been there.


	2. Second Stair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ooh, ooh, and she's buying the stairway to heaven..."

“There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure  
Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings  
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings  
Sometimes all of our thoughts are miss-given”

*

Ginny paused, distracted by the sign to her right. It was a gold plaque with words etched into it. The calligraphy was beautiful. It said, “The price that you have paid is not the full price.” She stared at it, uncertain. She’d been told that the final payment would have to be made here but she hadn’t seen anyone there when she arrived. How did she pay the rest? The sign didn’t say. 

Ginny’s eyes strayed to the next stair, then she looked back over her shoulder. There was no one there, just the door she’d come in. She looked up the stairs. Perhaps she needed to make a final payment at the top? Why hadn’t the shop keeper explained this part to her? Uncertainty warred with desire, desire won and she took another step up.

*

Severus stepped outside the next morning after checking on Harry. The boy was doing well. He would drop him off near the school before lunch time. Someone should see him and get him to Poppy then there would be no more worries. He went down to the brook and began gathering nuts that had fallen from the nearby trees. If he didn’t get his portion soon the animals would make short work of them. A bird sang from one of the trees, probably his last song before flying off for the winter. It was the sort of day Severus would normally spend outside enjoying the end of fall warmth while he could before the chill set in.

What had Harry done after the war ended? Severus couldn’t seem to shake endless scenarios from his head, how Harry had lived, who had died, what had happened next. It horrified him to think of Slughorn still mucking around his dungeons. Those dungeons had been his by the end of things and giving them up… Yet he had given them up. He’d given it all up of his own free will. Severus looked down as he dropped the acorn he’d just picked up to see his hands shaking. Of all the stupid things for him to get upset over, it would be a school full of dunderheads.

“I knew you were still alive.”

Severus’ head jerked up and he looked back towards the voice. Harry stood behind him, wobbling like he might fall over. When had he become so tall? His shoulders were strong and broad compared to Severus’ memory. It was the first time Severus had ever looked at Harry and thought that he was attractive.

*

Harry woke with a jolt. A jolt, like an electric shock went through him. What was it? He remembered having a strange feeling just before he’d lost his grip on the broom and then he’d fallen, but now he was in a bed, warm and comfortable. There was still some pain. He was able to sit, though, and stand. The wood cottage he found himself in was simple and filled with deep rich browns, reds and greens. There had to be someone around, someone who had carried him to the bed and probably fed him potions. A distinct aftertaste in his mouth told him the latter.

When he exited the cottage he had a pretty good idea that he was somewhere in the Forbidden Forest. He remembered many forays into it during his school years and considering his flight path it made sense. He turned and walked around the cottage slowly, stopping when he saw familiar black robes, greasy looking black hair, long fingers still slightly yellowed. He’d been certain that Snape was still alive. The body had disappeared after all and no matter how many times he was told some Death Eater must have taken it Harry hadn’t believed.

“I knew you were alive,” Harry said, watching as Snape turned black eyes on him. He swayed a bit unsteadily and for a moment Snape just stared at him. He looked… strange. Harry had no idea what that look meant.

“Foolish child, what are you doing walking around?” Snape finally demanded, standing and leaving a basket of nuts on the ground where he’d been. He was over in a second, putting a supporting arm around Harry.

It felt good to lean on something, though no one had called him a child in a good long time. “I’m not a child anymore you know. Haven’t been for years.”

“I can’t know if that’s true or not, having been out of society as I am.” Snape was helping him back to the cottage and Harry found that he had to lean a good bit more than he really wanted to. His energy had sure been short lived.

“You’re the one who removed yourself. Besides, you know my age. I’m sure you can remember.” Snape was stronger than he’d expected, supporting him with ease and Harry could feel muscles beneath the black robes he’d never known were there.

“Age has little to do with it.” Snape was taking him right back to the bedroom.

“Age has everything to do with it. More importantly why did you run off? Why have you been pretending to be dead when you aren’t? There are so many people who want to talk to you, who would like to apologize…”

“Don’t be foolish, there’s no reason for anyone to apologize to me,” Snape interrupted him with the words.

“Of course there are reasons! We all misjudged you terribly and treated you like an enemy when you weren’t.”

“I don’t know what makes you so sure I wasn’t!” Snape lowered him into the bed again.

Harry found that he no longer had the energy to hold himself up. He allowed Snape to settle him into the bed, propping his head on the pillows. “Your… memories of course.” He focused on Snape’s black eyes. “I saw all sort of things.”

Snape stared at him. “You should forget whatever you saw. The poison must have given me less control than I thought I had.” His voice was hard, cold.

Harry refused to be fooled, though. He knew more about Snape than he had when that voice could fool him into distrust. “Whatever the reason, I won’t forget what I saw. You more than made up for anything you might have done wrong with all of the things you did right at the end.”

Snape sighed and sat down on the side of the bed. “Is that what you think?”

“Yes, it’s what I’ve thought for some time now.” He tried to sit up, but Snape pushed him back.

“You aren’t going anywhere. I’ll get you something to eat, but you must promise me you’ll stay put.”

The words made Harry realize that he was very hungry. “Fine, but you aren’t getting away from me now that I’ve found you.”

Snape raised his eyebrows. “Is that so?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Hm… I can’t think what you believe you’re going to do with me.” Snape stood and walked to the doorway lingering there, watching Harry.

Harry felt his face flush. He didn’t know why. He’d felt so strongly about Snape for such a long time but what did it all mean? What did he want out of this man now that he’d found him alive?

“I see.” Snape said, turning away. “In that case it can wait, I think.” Then he was out of the room, and although Harry could have called after him he found that he had no idea what he might say if he did.


	3. Third Stair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It makes me wonder  
> It really makes me wonder..."

“There's a feeling I get when I look to the west  
And my spirit is crying for leaving  
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees  
And the voices of those who stand looking”

*

Ginny had climbed many staircases during her life. She had never been on one before where each step felt like so much effort. There was a feeling of time passing so slowly and her mind was racing as she stepped onto the third step. Her memories of the war overwhelmed her as she considered the tension of the fight. Harry had been so far away and she’d felt special, knowing that he was thinking of her.

Of course they got together again when the war was won. She had known that Harry would win it. It was the only option. Harry was special. Yet after the war he’d been different. He didn’t talk as much and when he did it was often about Snape. Why become obsessed with that man? So he’d done the right thing in the end, so what? Harry wouldn’t even take credit for winning the war, saying that if it hadn’t been for Severus Snape’s sacrifice he would never have won.

Ginny shook her head. At first she’d thought it would fade, that he would be his old self soon enough. It only got worse. Ginny was right in front of his face but he didn’t think of her much anymore. She felt unimportant and knowing that she wasn’t important to the man she loved was too hard. It was at a breaking point and she knew it. The relationship with Harry was going to end. She’d lived her life to be with him in so many ways that it felt like her life was ending. Wiping away tears she eyed the fourth stair.

*

Harry didn’t hate him. Severus found that one thought was impossible to let go of. He stirred the broth he’d put on the night before, checking the tenderness of the vegetables he’d added that morning. Soup was one of his favorite things to make from scratch, the long brew time, the slow build up of flavors, soup was a subtle tasting food, yet complex. At least that was how it began, then you added more flavor until it satisfied your desired result. This soup was more about being healthy and easy to digest then anything else.

It occurred to Severus that a part of him was thinking about soup because soup wasn’t Harry. If he thought about Harry… At first he’d wished that Harry had never been born, then Lily would still be alive and though she would have never been his, he would know she was well and happy. Then Harry had become his one hope to get back at the man he’d once considered great. Tom had been a mentor to him, an inspiring speaker who appreciated his talents. Then everything had changed. It had been gradual but Severus knew now that he should have seen it. He should have known. After Lily was dead and Harry came to Hogwarts he’d placed his hope on the same thing as everyone else. He’d wanted Harry to kill the Dark Lord that Tom had become.

“Harry…” he’d been so much like his mother sometimes Severus wanted to cry. Other times so much like his father that Severus wanted to beat him. Most of the time he’d just been this impossible child though, impossible because no one would treat him as the child he was, not even the Headmaster. His mind went blank as it often did when he thought of Albus Dumbledore. There was still too much sorrow there mixed with guilt and self hatred.

Severus ladled a serving of the soup into a bowl and carried it to his bedroom. Harry’s eyes were closed and his face was a bit blue. Frowning Severus set the soup on the side table and sat down on the bed again. He’d known that Harry still needed rest, but the change in color at this point seemed wrong. Placing a hand on Harry’s forehead Severus felt that he was cold. He checked Harry’s pulse. It was far too slow. Using his wand he did a thorough job of looking things over, then he went and pulled several more potions, his mind fully occupied with this new problem.

Harry was ill, but the illness made no sense. Initially the problem had been brought on by the fall, a long fall from a broom could cause death if one landed badly and Harry had been lucky to survive it. Now, however, his symptoms had changed. Although his injuries from the fall continued to heal slowly his body was literally fighting itself. The very fiber of what made Harry, Harry was at war and no matter what part of him won, it would kill him. Severus had never heard of this happening before. He set the potions next to the soup and realized what he needed to do. There was no way he could do this alone. There needed to be a healer involved and he wasn’t one.

Severus could do a lot with potions but they weren’t meant to be used in a random manner. He shook Harry gently trying to wake him, then much more firmly.

“Wha?” Harry asked, eyes only opening half way.

“I’m going to have to take you to Poppy.” 

“Na leaving without you.”

Severus recognized the stubborn voice quite well, though he wasn’t used to the way Harry was lazily dropping consonants. The slurred speech worried him. At the moment there was a lot about Harry’s health that worried him actually.

“Of course not, you can’t walk,” Severus snapped. He was already unhappy about matters. It didn’t help that he wouldn’t be able to just leave Harry to be found. There was no guarantee he would be found on time and if he survived he would talk non-stop about where Severus was and how he was still alive. “I’ll carry you to her.”

That seemed to satisfy the boy. His eyes fell shut and he drifted off again. No, not boy, not really. These days Harry was older than that. Severus stared at him far too long, wondering how the feelings he’d had over the years translated now. Of course he felt affection for Harry, not to mention a whole other range of things, but now that he was an attractive man instead of a meddling child who had no sense of self preservation… Severus shook his head. There was no time for this. He needed to get Harry to Poppy.


End file.
